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Author Topic: Setting up your PC for Recording  (Read 296654 times)

Offline bassman88

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #125 on: September 26, 2007, 02:22:08 PM »
You do not need a mac to run PT with your 1814. For one thing, the PT that comes with any M-audio product is merely the the M-powered version, a relatively stripped down PT that has no access to TDM hardware and plugs. Secondly, PT has been proven to work on both OSX and XP so there is no difference in functionality. Third, PT on OSX and XP WILL CRASH if you let it. Just because it's a Mac doesn't mean it's more stable, the only upside is that a Mac works out of the box although you still have to tweak it just a little to squeeze the most performance out of it. Bang-for-the-buck goes to properly configured pc systems as long as you have the right combination of parts and OS configuration. One thing you should do with PT: don't use Vista!

As for recommended pc's, go to the Digidesign site for recommended systems. Off the hat, though, I could say that most present day computers will run the 1814 fine although only the high end mobos have TI-equipped firewire chipsets, Asus and Gigabyte in particular. Another thing to check is that PT M-powered doesn't seem to like multi-core processing, so that will be a MAJOR consideration. Digi is comnig out with Vista tweaks, though, so expect to spend for the upgrade.  :evil:

TI-equipped firewire chipsets? What are these? Kasi i just bought a firewire PCI card e. Ok lang ba to? will it affect record quality? Btw, magkano bili mo sa 1814?

Offline KitC

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #126 on: September 26, 2007, 02:38:34 PM »
TI-equipped firewire chipsets? What are these? Kasi i just bought a firewire PCI card e. Ok lang ba to? will it affect record quality? Btw, magkano bili mo sa 1814?

Among the TI-equipped firewire chipset motherboards are: Asus P5WDH (i975), Asus P5B Deluxe (i965), Gigabyte GA-965 DQ6, Gigabyte GA-P35 DQ6... practically most of the high end mobos from these 2 manufacturers. I'm not 100% sure but I think Abit has something similar (Abit IP35 Pro).

A firewire pci card will not affect audio quality since what is passing through the card is already data. What it important is that chipset of the card (again, should be TI). There have been reports of other chipsets that work but YMMV.

marcowpg has the 1814... I use an Emu 1820m.
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Offline bassman88

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #128 on: September 26, 2007, 04:24:52 PM »
marco, where and how much did you buy ur 1814? Im thinking of buying kasi

Offline marcowpg3

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #129 on: September 26, 2007, 04:29:04 PM »
Another thing to check is that PT M-powered doesn't seem to like multi-core processing, so that will be a MAJOR consideration.

so you mean i dont need the dual core, that a pentium 4 processor will suffice? or is it much better to get a dual core processor for future reference/use? thanks! sorry kulit hehehe...


Offline marcowpg3

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #130 on: September 26, 2007, 04:36:52 PM »
marco, where and how much did you buy ur 1814? Im thinking of buying kasi

nagpabili ako sa US, theres a very good package sa musiciansfriend.com or sa music123.com, all in all $799 dollars yung package. it includes the M-audio 1814 interface, Protools M powered 7.3, AKG condenser mic, Senheiser headphones, cables and a mic stand. Actually hindi pa dumadating pero excited na ako haha! I tried to canvass the stuff here, individually aabot ng roughly P70K, wala pa yung computer, so ang laki ng ititipid mo kung sa US mo makukuha.

anyway, heres the link: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-Pro-Tools-1814-Package?sku=709207

Offline marcowpg3

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #131 on: September 26, 2007, 04:42:07 PM »
meron din dito ng 1814 sa JB music, and somewhere at makati cinema square beside brochiere computers. it costs around P40K, and the protools software i think nasa P18K

Offline KitC

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #132 on: September 26, 2007, 04:46:49 PM »
so you mean i dont need the dual core, that a pentium 4 processor will suffice? or is it much better to get a dual core processor for future reference/use? thanks! sorry kulit hehehe...

Look at it this way. The technology changes every 18 months or sometimes even lesser. You can get a dual core but make sure your mobo can accept quad and higher number cores in order to futureproof it. The limitation of the software is only temporary and it will always be addressed by updates/upgrades. That's why I prefer software that isn't tied to hardware the way PT is. On the other side, the PT MP system is compatible with HD and LE systems hence opens the door to porting your tracks and mixes to higher level PT suites.

Btw, forget about the old P4 systems and go C2D. The advantages are there like lower power usage and high utilization. You might have to configure PT to use a single core in the outset, but I'm sure Digidesign will address that issue, if they haven't already (which is weird since I'm sure PT can work with dual-cpu configurations, it's with multicore that they seem to hit a snag).
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Offline arzoeffect

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #133 on: September 26, 2007, 08:11:54 PM »
mga sirs how bout for laptops? pwede po bng direct ang mixer sa line-in ng laptop?

Offline KitC

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #134 on: September 26, 2007, 08:28:42 PM »
mga sirs how bout for laptops? pwede po bng direct ang mixer sa line-in ng laptop?

Technically yes, pero you are limited to stereo input. The better solution would be to get a usb2 or firewire interface if the laptop has those ports. Another would be to use a firewire mixer. The problem with laptop onboard audio is the quality of the converters, aside from the 1/8" stereo jacks which are fragile.
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Offline arzoeffect

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #135 on: September 26, 2007, 08:34:53 PM »
hmm...i see...yep mine has firewire & usb2.0 ports...any suggestion with such kind of mixers? yung budget friendly po sana...hehehe! thanks!

Offline KitC

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #136 on: September 26, 2007, 08:53:11 PM »
Try the alesis firewire mixers. We've had good experience with those.
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Offline arzoeffect

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #137 on: September 26, 2007, 08:58:39 PM »
ok i'll look for it...big thanks!

Offline bassman88

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #138 on: September 28, 2007, 09:35:42 AM »
nagpabili ako sa US, theres a very good package sa musiciansfriend.com or sa music123.com, all in all $799 dollars yung package. it includes the M-audio 1814 interface, Protools M powered 7.3, AKG condenser mic, Senheiser headphones, cables and a mic stand. Actually hindi pa dumadating pero excited na ako haha! I tried to canvass the stuff here, individually aabot ng roughly P70K, wala pa yung computer, so ang laki ng ititipid mo kung sa US mo makukuha.

anyway, heres the link: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-Pro-Tools-1814-Package?sku=709207

Actually sa musiciansfriend rin ako bibili kaso ung unit lang, problema lang ung shipping. Meron kasing scratch and dent sale, nasa $359 nalang ung 1814 firewire unit. Paano ang setup mo dito? kulang ka pa ng preamps ah. haha! Im gonna use it to record drums kasi. Hassel... Anyway, nagshship ba ang musiciansfriend dito sa pinas? magkano shipping?

Offline bassman88

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #139 on: September 28, 2007, 09:39:01 AM »
@KitC: Sir kit, mahirap ba ang configuration ng Alesis firewire mixers sa Cubase? Multi track ba ang pasok nito sa computer? Kasi priority ko is maedit ko per channel, like sa drums, kunyari, ung isang tom lang sa isang channel para matweak  ko without affecting the other toms. thanks!

Offline KitC

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #140 on: September 28, 2007, 12:13:42 PM »
@KitC: Sir kit, mahirap ba ang configuration ng Alesis firewire mixers sa Cubase? Multi track ba ang pasok nito sa computer? Kasi priority ko is maedit ko per channel, like sa drums, kunyari, ung isang tom lang sa isang channel para matweak  ko without affecting the other toms. thanks!

When we used Jepoy's Multimix 8FW in Purple Haze, we were able to record all 8 channels individually; firewire is more than capable of handling that many tracks. The only caveat is that asio always treats audio streams as stereo pairs so that you will have to setup your VST Inputs to separate each asio L/R pair as a mono input (ex., left channel=input 1, right channel=input 2 and so on...).

Btw, musiciansfriend does not ship overseas. Hint: Use Johnny Air cargo...
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Offline kamots

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #141 on: September 28, 2007, 01:53:36 PM »
Warning: N0ob question follows!!!

When recording a guitar, what are the the differences/pros/cons of using a USB interface (say MI Audio Jamlab) vs. a good soundcard (and a DI box?)? Or does the  apples and oranges thing apply here?

TIA

No takers?  :-D
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Offline KitC

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #142 on: September 28, 2007, 02:10:57 PM »
No takers?  :-D

Sorry about that. I was waiting for the guitar-oriented recordists to post but I'll bite.

It does matter whether you're using an inexpensive interface vs. a more expensive one, specifically with the converters. Ideally, you want an interface that can give you as much fidelity and the least coloration when you record. You also want a converter that can record to at least 96 khz and 24-bits; the bitrate is especially important if you want to have extra processing headroom. I personally record to 24 bits because the processing on the tails and fades is a lot smoother compared to 16-bit. The Jamlab only records up to 48 khz - not a deal breaker, but it is limited to a single guitar input so is not capable of accommodating other sources like keyboards and microphones - strictly a guitar recording interface.

The data protocol can be important; USB 2.0 is preferable to USB 1.1 interfaces because of the greater data bandwidth. Firewire is a very good alternative to USB 2 because firewire has lower cpu overhead. In terms of data transfer rates, pci soundcards provides the fastest to date. All that is moot, however, if the interface's drivers are bad, i.e., cannot provide a low enough latency for you to overdub or to record comfortably while playing back other tracks. Another thing to look out for is how monitoring is implemented. Some interfaces will not monitor through hardware while software monitoring usually introduces latency - something to watch out for.

EDIT: typo
« Last Edit: September 30, 2007, 05:30:42 PM by KitC »
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Offline marcowpg3

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #143 on: September 28, 2007, 05:29:17 PM »
Actually sa musiciansfriend rin ako bibili kaso ung unit lang, problema lang ung shipping. Meron kasing scratch and dent sale, nasa $359 nalang ung 1814 firewire unit. Paano ang setup mo dito? kulang ka pa ng preamps ah. haha! Im gonna use it to record drums kasi. Hassel... Anyway, nagshship ba ang musiciansfriend dito sa pinas? magkano shipping?

sa shipping, kasi may friend ako na uuwi dito so he's gonna bring it back with him. pero pwede ka din magpadala from the states ng balikbayan box, i think it costs around $75. about the preamps, yun nga wala pa ako nun.

SIR KITC, question; can the interface be used as a preamp? or do you have to get a preamp separately for this kind of home studio to work? sorry for the newbie questions kasi im really just starting out and baka kulang yung gamit ko and i might be missing some essential stuff para sa simpleng home studio. although meron din naman akong multi effects processors for guitars and sansamp direct box for bass. pwde bang rekta sa interface yung mga instruments and mics? or mas ok kung papadaanin sa preamp?

ganito kasi yung set up ko when my stuff gets here:
COMPUTER -> INTERFACE -> DIRECT BOX/PROCESSORS -> INSTRUMENTS/MICS

is this gonna work? or did i just spend for nothing? HELP!! :? :-o :?

Offline kamots

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #144 on: September 28, 2007, 06:15:41 PM »
Sorry about that.......

No apology necessary. I'm gonna have to re-read that while paying more attention to the words a couple of times before I totally get  :-) it but thanks for the reply
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Offline KitC

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #145 on: September 28, 2007, 06:21:01 PM »
SIR KITC, question; can the interface be used as a preamp?

The 1814 has 8 analog line inputs of which inputs 1 & 2 share a mic preamp along with the unbalanced line inputs 1 & 2 at the back of the unit. In order to use mics with the other 6 inputs, you will need to add 6 mic preamps.

All is not lost since the 1814 also has ADAT I/O. The easy (and relatively cheap way) to add 8 additional mic preamps is to get something like the Behringer ADA8000 and connect it via lightpipe to the ADAT input. This will give you a total of 10 mic preamps plus 6 line inputs available for keyboards/synths and ampsim lineouts.

hth,
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Offline bassman88

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #146 on: September 28, 2007, 08:17:16 PM »
The 1814 has 8 analog line inputs of which inputs 1 & 2 share a mic preamp along with the unbalanced line inputs 1 & 2 at the back of the unit. In order to use mics with the other 6 inputs, you will need to add 6 mic preamps.

All is not lost since the 1814 also has ADAT I/O. The easy (and relatively cheap way) to add 8 additional mic preamps is to get something like the Behringer ADA8000 and connect it via lightpipe to the ADAT input. This will give you a total of 10 mic preamps plus 6 line inputs available for keyboards/synths and ampsim lineouts.

hth,

Sir Kit, if we do this method, won't it mean entering the computer as a single track lang? Lahat ng nakasaksak sa ADA8000?

Offline KitC

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #147 on: September 29, 2007, 12:05:14 AM »
Sir Kit, if we do this method, won't it mean entering the computer as a single track lang? Lahat ng nakasaksak sa ADA8000?

No. The ADA8000 is an 8-channel mic/line preamp which can give you 8 separate tracks. It is slaved to the 1814 by means of the lightpipe connection; the ADA serves to increase the available analog inputs and outputs to the 1814. If you use the ADA in conjunction with the 1814, you will have a total of 16 analog inputs and outputs.
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Offline stilljey

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #148 on: September 29, 2007, 08:11:07 AM »
sir, what is lightpipe or lightpipe connection?

Offline x_taxi

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Re: Setting up your PC for Recording
« Reply #149 on: September 29, 2007, 10:06:53 AM »
sir, what is lightpipe or lightpipe connection?

that's what they call the connection to transfer digital audio with the use of fiber optics, hence the name.  since pinoy tayo, we call it by the brand name, yun din yun tinatawag natin na adat.

 :-) :-) :-)
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